Almost half - 59 of 120 - of the starting quarterbacks for FBS teams this season are from three states, and five states have produced almost two-thirds of the nation's starting quarterbacks.

Not surprisingly, California (25), Texas (19) and Florida (15) rank first through third in producing this season's starting quarterbacks. When Ohio (eight) and Virginia (seven) are added, that's 74 starters - or 62 percent. No other state has more than five, and, in all, 29 states have produced at least one starter.

Last season, the "big three" states had 60 starters; in 2009, that number was 54.

In this season's high school ranks, the "big three" have 19 of the top 40 prospects. California has seven of the top 40, with Florida and Texas each having six. In each of the past two years, 18 of the nation's top 40 were from those three states.

"It's a better-than-normal crop this year," Rivals.com national recruiting analyst Mike Farrell says of this cycle's quarterback group. "We have our first five stars at the position since 2009 and the depth in the Rivals250 is solid. The last two years have been down overall, so it's good to see a resurgence."

And in terms of NFL starters this weekend, there were five each from California and Texas and four from Pennsylvania. There were none from Florida.

Here is a look at this season's FBS starters: (* -- see notes at bottom):

NOTES
New Mexico State: Christian replaced Andrew Manley (who played high school ball in Hawaii) when Manley was lost for the season with an injury.
Northwestern: Colter will lose the starting spot to Dan Persa (who played high school ball in Pennsylvania) when Persa is healthy.
UTEP: Lamaison will regain his starting spot when he returns from injury, which could be this week.
Washington State: Lobbestael will lose the starting spot to Jeff Tuel (who played his high school ball in California) when Tuel is healthy.